Wang Yongjin owns a recording studio in Beijing that provides oral texts to students of English at any level, especially those studying for the national college entrance examination. Fifty-year-old Wang, who has a son at university, is from Beijing.
How long have you been running your studio?
Six years.
Presumably the drive to learn English has increased since Beijing won the bid to host the Olympics?
Perhaps a little, but not by any significant amount. One change is the number of old people who now want to learn English so they can help the foreigners who come to Beijing for the Games. But China needs to do business with the world, and to do this it needs English speakers. Students know their prospects are only any good if they can speak English. Regardless of the Olympics, this business would have developed.
So you don't think the massive changes in Beijing can be attributed solely to the Games?
What is down to the Games is the speed at which the economy has developed. It would have happened, but it would have happened in 10 or 15 years, as opposed to three to four, as has happened.